South Korean shares pare early losses as Samsung Electronics rebounds

SEOUL: Round-up of South Korean financial markets:

South Korean shares end lower, Korea Zinc hits daily lower limit

• South Korean shares recouped some of early losses on Thursday, after hitting their lowest levels in six weeks, as index heavyweight Samsung Electronics rebounded on comments that it made progress in its development of advanced chips.

• The benchmark KOSPI was down 20.41 points, or 0.79%, at 2,573.38, as of 0232 GMT. Earlier in the session, the index dropped as much as 1.6% to its lowest levels since Sept. 19.

• Shares of Samsung Electronics were up 3.2%, after falling as much as 1.4% in early trade. The chipmaker, which reported a quarterly fall in chip profit, said it made “meaningful progress” in qualification tests for HBM3E chips.

• Rival SK Hynix, which has been practically the exclusive supplier of advanced chips to Nvidia , dropped 4.5%.

• South Korea’s factory output unexpectedly fell in September on weaker chip production, according to data.

• Korea Zinc slumped for a second straight session, down as much as 23%, after dropping on Wednesday by 30% to the daily lower limit on a decision to issue new stocks.

• Most index heavyweights were also trading in the red including automakers, e-commerce firms and biopharmaceutical manufacturers, weighed down by an overnight drop on Wall Street. Battery maker Lg Energy Solution rose.

• Of the total 933 traded issues, 333 shares advanced, while 537 declined.

• Foreigners were net sellers of shares worth 309.0 billion won ($224.05 million).

• The won was quoted at 1,379.9 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.01% lower than its previous close at 1,379.8.

• In money and debt markets, December futures on three-year treasury bonds fell 0.07 point to 105.77.

• The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield rose by 2.5 basis points to 2.962%, while the benchmark 10-year yield rose 2.1 basis points to 3.126%.